Becoming a Publisher Using Linux Utilities

Becoming a Publisher Using Linux Utilities

I have had a crash course of writing.
Four books after two year lapse and ideas not opinions flowing at a tremendous speed.

I have almost stopped blogging and if I do not sit down and write them, the very next day, I have forgotten all.

I use forgetting as a method of encouraging new ideas.

Ruminating on the same old opinion is not a good thing for a writer.
One gets bogged down mentally or mental block ensues.

I was down with myocarditis on the first dose of vaccination but thankfully my mental faculties remained intact and that made me to go through the rest I needed, since there is no treatment for myocarditis which may even end up in death.

Initially it was fear but then reality dawned on me that uncertainty principle in stock market will fit in nicely with life events as well.

It was not fatigue that made me to go into hibernation.
Having worked 24/7 schedule all my life as a medical person, I needed a long rest, especially because the demise of our dog Zimba put me down low.
 

He was wonderful companion and I may not write a book about him which was more personal agony than glory.

(In fact I have written a book about three Ceylonese -afterlife- dogs and all three now are in Heaven and one as the Maha Brahma's assistant)
 

This book will be published soon when I go back to Ceylon for a break.

I have for the past 20 years, dissociated with medical activities and I pretend that I was a PhD guy and not a proper medical guy. 

Having worked my last years in the university, that ploy worked very well for me and gave me time for blogging, if not writing.

The corona virus pandemic was the correct antidote and I stopped drinking and loitering in the city, aimlessly in book shops, the coffee and tea shops which were mushrooming in a tiny city of Kandy for foreign tourists.

Unfortunately my classmates are either living on medical drugs and are deprived of alcohol due to their medication or have become alcoholic addicts.
 

I hate the cellphone and have almost switched off the land phone for good.

The telephone only brings bad news, never good and the rest is gossip.

That made me to write pretty or petty books on alcohol, publishing of books, fact files void of fat, mother nature and about 30 unique guys I, have met in my life including guys doing gem business, union activities, loafing, mountaineering, fishing, vendors, farmers, jokers, petty office assistants, librarians, sportsmen and many more.

Unlike the young days my memory is failing and I have to jot down ideas, in a tiny note book, which I found in New Zealand 30:years ago. and never used but kept it like a souvenir.

I did not bring this book to Australia and I am going back to collect it and enlarge upon the ideas jotted down.

 It has all the passwords recorded for posterity.

It has come handy and me forgetting PIN numbers of all the bank accounts made me to write down all the lengthy passwords for my email, except one email (which I remember well due to frequent use), I have forgotten all the other passwords.

I cannot log into CreateSpace account with one email which I have many books published.

Even though, I can some how get to my email by circuitous methods, I cannot get to the bookshelf of mine at CreateSpace.

Finally, I got round of that hurdle and here I am publishing again.

I begin to hate digital books with ugly black and white typeface.

For a long time I used Google's fonts with color to add color to my blog pieces.

I have resisted buying a Kindle and my tablet battery has gone dead and it cannot be replaced.

I have collected quite a number of Nokia cellphones and a tiny  cellphone (this I have disposed) for calls for Taxi or sending SMS and had a problem with responding to the Amazon's text messages for verification of my book page.

I have many SIM cards (15 in number, I guess a CIA guy do not have that many) for my various activities and have to use at least two of them to coordinate my writings.

The keyboard is a problem and cursor point of the mouse jumps recklessly to unwanted places and editing correction to this entry took more than an hour.

Thank You Amazon, the spell checker did a good job highlighting the mistakes.

Life is getting complicated and paranoid in this modern age,

The pandemic has made lot of guy/girls becoming paranoid.

It is not an evolutionary trend but a bizarre  malady of  modern age!

Basic Needs of a Computer User can be Packed in 800MB of Puppy Linux-Vanilla Pup 9.3.3

Well, well, I did clean Install of Vanilla Pup in my hard disk using 512MB of space.

This was something I used to do ages ago (now forgotten) but I followed the instructions and within 30 minutes my 4GB USB can be removed and any thing I do will be saved on the 38GB Fat 32 Partition.

I used my name for the sfs file which is 532MB the size of the EFI partition in this computer.

This USB stick has all the Puppy Linux distribution Isos and other Linux distributions that I have downloaded to Test.

Yes, miracles can happen with Puppy Linux!

I am glad to hear Barry Kauler is active in developing three wheeler Moped (it is not the correct phrase).

What is good about Puppy is (this an old edition) it mounts all your hard disks partitions at boot time.

It does not do any damage at all to rest of the partitions.

 

The basic steps in  the System can be enumerated in 10 Steps.

1. File Manager (lot of names for this)

2. Terminal emulator (many in existence to command line instructions)

3. Process Viewer

4. Default Browser, usually Firefox

5.  Default Text editor for coding

6. Default Paint Program

7. Default Word Processor usually AbiWord or LibreOffice.

8. Puppy Setup

9. Edit Tray

10. Help

11. Eleven is Exit

All this can be done on RAM and if you are happy YOU can install it. 

That is what I did today.

Arkane Linux

 Arkane Linux

Arkane Linux is an Arch based distribution.

Unlike ArcoLinux which I have a copy installed its its installer is bit dicey, so I did not try installing it.

It probably wants to take over the hard disk.

However, included application does not have even Gparted. 

I am going back to GostBSD as my carry over USB distribution since I know it can boot by old Laptop in an emergency. 

Android Versions

 I am not sure what is the latest Android version.

I believe it is 14. 

My current version is 11 and I hope Google will keep supporting old versions.

 1. Android versions 1.0 to 1.1: The early days

2. Android versions 2.0 to 2.1: Eclair

3. Android versions 3.0 3.1 3.2 Honeycomb

4. Android version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

5. Android version 5.0 on early smartphones

6. Android version 6.0: Marshmallow

7. Android versions 7.0 and 7.1: Nougat

8. Android version 8.0 and 8.1: Oreo

9. Android version 9: Pie

10 Android version 10

11. Android version 11

12. Android version 12

13. Android 13

14. Android version 14
.

I am Installing ArcoLinux-SUPERB

I am Installing ArcoLinux which is excellent.

I am installing ArcoLinux.

I am not a fan of Arch Linux because of its minimalist approach (one application for one job approach).

It seems like ArcoLinux has broken that tradition.

It uses Calamara Installer and Arco Calaramara is flexible and gives the installer options to choose.

I do not know I have chosen the correct options but I like it giving me AbiWord and several Word Processes.

WiFi configuration is effortless and I am posting this while it is being installed.

I hope it won't mess up my EFI partition which was only 532MB and it wanted 2000MB which is a big waste of partition space.

I have 320GB in my Hard drive and it has three distributions already installed. 

Installation is slow and only 65% completed. 

Session user is liveuser and no password.

It has Gparted for partitioning. 

I use several desktops including light weight desktops and I hope like the BIG CD version of Debian 12.4.0, I can test all the desktop types at boot time.

Additional feature is one can toggle what is being installed at 5 second intervals. 

It is still at 71%. 

By the way, it let me select host of games which none of the Linux distributions fancy about.

So if its boots OK it is worth the waiting. 

ARcoLinux is astonishingly good.

Now I have more than 20 desktops to write about. I am writing a book about available desktops and I was under the impression it is about 20 but to my surprise there are over 40 desktop types and I will select only 25 that I have used during my 23 years of Linux, one for each year and 2 as my overall favourites.

At boot time one can select only one desktop.

Yes it installed alright but lot of fragmentation.

Only MATE and  Xfce worked and not KDE Plasma.

The integrated video card of my NUC could not manage KDE plasma 6.

This is the very reason I favour Light Weight Distributions.

I favoured light desktops and Xfce3 was my usual and Gnome has taken over the flavor out of Xfce4.

This is posted with Cutefish Desktop.

It does not give any office packages but gives a selection office packages to choose after installing the base. 

AbiWord implementation was faulty but after reinstalling it worked.

Thank YOU all girls and boys of ArcoLinux (Developer community).

I am installing it for the second time having shed the bulk of unnecessary application and selected 33GB (it needs 30GB for Large Install) partition for full install.

Besides, I can add or delete after installation.

It does not have Ubuntu Synaptic but bulk is installed Snapack.

It is over 70% install now.

Few things I missed.

It lets you install several browsers including Opera, Falcon and Vivaldi which I really value

Root partition needs nearly 20GB and I gave 33GB. Home and var partition can be left small if the hardware is not sufficient.

In my case, I have other distributions installed.

I had 3 chioces of mine and I could not decide on the fourth.

ArcoLinux takes that place and  Parrot Linux and Kali take fifth and sixth places and Linux Mint in between.

Now I can safely say in 35GB partition space Linux can fit in all the Linux applications one needs.

I do not think Mac and Microsoft take pride in that scenario and their selection is very limited.

This is what a community can do for its Own development.

Share Your Skills and extra time the final product is creditable.

STEPS for each package.

1. Key Ring

2. Checking Package Integrity

3. Package Files

4. Checking file conflicts

5. Checking disk space

6. Processing or configuring the package.

Arch does this process over and over again for each application.

That is why it takes a long time to install.

No need to check afterwards!

It runs live installation and good Internet connection is vital for smooth installation.

Most of these facts are common to all Linux distribution installation.

Debiin has its own way of installation but it worries about sable installation whereas ArcoLinux installs the latest if not the cutting edge. utililties.

Password Strategy From my AOL Mail

Password Strategy From my AOL Mail

This is a reproduction over a decade ago which I sent to a friend whose password was hacked. 

I forgot my password and reactivated today.

They have Two Factor method now but not long time ago.

 

Step 1

One has to have one’s own trick for remembering blocks of three or four.

Try to associate them with pictures, names, pets etc.

Your pet fish or dog or cat would have a secret code attached.
 

Every time you feed them repeat the code (in mind) mentally in no time it get fixed as a long term permanent memory.

Step 2

Come with a phrase to include all  10 to 16 characters in one’s password.
This is the hard part but it can be done.

Step 3
Use elements that one never forgets (unless one has Dementia).

Birthday is an easy one to remember.

Use only two numbers from it, not all.

Step 4
Unfortunately this cannot be used if one is English but I will give some hints for them too.


For Sinhala U Mata Banna, or Muta Mata Gahanna Hithenawa or Even Puke Ariya are good enough relatively used rephrases one can remember in trans-literate content, which the English Search engine might have trouble in figuring out.

From that phrase one can choose four characters (even more if the phrase is carefully constructed) easily.
 

For English user, one good example is to go to Alchemy and remember few Elements from the Tables.

Elements like Argon, Neon, Nitrogen, Bromine could be used at lib.
 

Or even one can use pentagon, hexagon, octagon or any other scientific or mathematical elements.

Again one only remembers four characters.

Step 5
If one has ever used a password before which one has remembered with repeated usage, use the same in the middle or rearrange it and put it in the middle.

Which will easily give you at least six characters.

You already got 12 characters now.

Step 6
Use two capital letters easy to access from the keyboard as the leader or the end of the password or leader and end, depending one is right or left handed.

Step 7
If the web site requires you to use an alphanumeric pick an alpha numeral to satisfy them.
You got 16 in all and 14 probably is adequate.

Step 8
Do not tell your method to anybody.
Do not share your password even with your spouse.


One day you may be divorced!


That is real and if you have time read my book on “Myths, Miracles and Marriage”.
 

Usually perfectly normal people become paranoid after getting married.
 

That is my medical experience.


It is often the people who are near and dear (sometimes, so called friends) who steal your password, not a rouge who breaks in for quick takeaway and getaway.

Keep the record of the method in a secret hiding place that you only have access.
In case one day you forget.
 

The best place to HIDE it is your brain.
 

Not even a brain surgeon would not have any access.

When resetting the password

 
When you change the password, drop two and take two from your birthday.
Pick four alternative block of four from your catch phrase.
Jumble your original password or add a new one.
Follow the rest as required and one may be able to go on till eighty to ninety since you practiced your own method and is almost specific to YOUR BRAIN which a hacker may not be able to penetrate or crack.

Unless you are one of twins there are no two people alike.
 

Even in them their are subtle differences not due to genetics but the brain behaves differently, even in twins.

Foot Note
But beware your doctor with a short memory or who is cash strapped who might steal your birth day or the catch phrase that you utter to him every time you visit.
Remember doctors forget their passwords more often than their patients.
They will never tell you.
That is why they record every word you utter and then get the vital diagnosis
wrong.
 

In this computer age doctors have become robots (unlike good old days) and not real humans.
 

If they ask you do you forget your passwords
 

Straight away say NO.

The stupid guy will ask you to state the password and put it in his computer memory which is not protected from hackers.
 

Even the nurse can steal it, if she/he is inclined.

I trust my doctor does not apply to passwords when you do visit him/her, next time, round.


That includes me too.


I might do that, catch your password, certainly not to steal but because my brain is getting absent minded I might put that in my computer, easily accessed even by a little kid.
 

Do not worry, I do not practice now by choice not by design anyway.
 

You are safe with me, my dear.

Linux Mint named Jammy (? Version21)

 Yes, I testes Linux Mint since , I had an extra USB of 4GB.

It is 3.1GB.

I begin to like it because of user friendliness.

If one happy with basic stuff, I have no hesitation recommending it to a newbie.

It has Synaptic Software and Snappak from Snaphub.

Snappak is the user friendly part.

I downloaded Abiword in live session.

I am surprised and HAPPY that AbiWord has increased its resources to 1.4GB download and 3.6GB installed.

By the way, Google again (to my Blog post to post this) did not sign me in a Live session of Mint.

Batozera Game Iso

Batozera Game Iso 

I was installing Ubuntu for the umpteenth time to get my GRUB Boot Loader in pristine form.

I had problem installing Synaptic Package manager and trying to install VLC I got lot of JUNK.

It took lot of time and I decided to try Batozera image downloaded and copied it to a USB and extraction did not go well.

I may try it not on Live Mode but on a Ubuntu Session and report back.

It is 3.1GB and I had problem extracting it (went into 10GB or more) and gave it up.

This time it is smaller and may work all right.

 

MX Linux Install

MX Linux Install is bit of a pain even for guy who is using Linux for donkeys years.

I am surprised it stand first in the ww.distrowatch.com list.

It took ages to configure GRUB and I hope it did not miss any of my installed distributions. 

But it has enormous amount of resoureces including Virtual Machines.

Problem is I have to install them one by one.

It started as a minimalist distribution and it has become fatty.

I like desktop fluxbox.

I am getting ready to identify fifty (50) types in my book. 

Well MX Linux has a Smart Installer.

I had to type AbiWord and it did find it and installed it briskly.

I am going for light weight desktops and it let me select the avaible light weight desktops.

I selected all.

Torrent also I selected all three available including my favorite transmission,

Deluge is  also installed.

Next I am going for virtual machines.

I hope my var partition will have enough space for all.

Yes, MX Linux has done a excellent job.

It will stand as my fourth (4) favorable installation in my NUC.

It took some time locating the Applications I needed but once selected installation goes on occasionally asking for root password (whereas other distributions ask for password for almost every application.

It tells me the image and installation size,too.

I got all my browsers installed including LiBreWeb browser (I am on with LibreBrowser) in one installation whereas before I had to pick each and every one and lot of distributions did not support Vivaldi (96% Open Source).

I have no hesitation in recommending it but one has to have an understanding of how Linux works.

Debian Has Gone into Calamara Installer by Default

 Yes, Debian Has Gone into Calamara Installer by Default and is a bit of a pain for me.

I am trying to Install four Distributions in a 500GB Second hand hard disk.

I thought the disk was faulty.

It make a little hissing noise but the fault was with the Clamara Installer not recognizing Ubuntu and Emmabantus.

Emmabantus is no different it does not recognize the Ubuntu already installed.

Problem solved by installing two copies of Ubuntu.

One to play with Virtual Box Utility and the other as my workhorse.

I generally use Gparted for partitioning a big hard disk and keep a ntfs partition for storing Linux Images and Calamara Installer is a bit of a pain.

I can say, I have finished installing 4 Instances of Installation of Linux (two instances of Ubuntu) with 26 partitions in 500GB hard disk and I have left 80GB of space for any future installation or testing.

YES, I can also remove, the SATA Hard disk and stick in a external box if I wish. 

Well, well, well, I decided to fill the 500GB to its Total Capacity and installed Debian Cinnamon (Cinnamon is my Favorite Tea) as the fifth distribution.

Checked all of them today and they BOOT OK!

It took several days for Parrot OS home iso to be downloaded.

I decided to erase Debian Cinnamon and install Parrot OS 5.1. It is much better than Kali which is very invasive.

My Priorities in Linux

Entry into Linux was a pure accident.

I cannot think I will make this year the Penguin Year.

Equally, I will devote my twilight years for Linux and its progress.

Over twenty years, I had been critical of Linux my early interest was to promote Linux games and if possible code some games.

I bought a book on Linux Games but never read a single page (I was a busy medical guy).

During my Windows time I devoted my time on Databases.

I was annoyed when database activity was taken over by a big company called Oracle.

That would have been the reason for me migrating to Linux (apart from many other personal reason).

I have developed an aversion for Bill Gate and he getting involved in Epstein Sags, I could never envisioned.

This happens when somebody has lot of money, especially when ill gotten and they make bad friends.

When, I kick the bucket, I have no regrets.

This cannot be said about Kings, Queens and Presidents.

I think people will be happy when some of these wealthy guys kick the bucket (I myself was happy, in some cases).

In Linux I want  few capabilities.

1. Live Session.

2. Internet connectivity especially WiFi.

3. Browser (not one but many in my case)

4. Torrent client for downloading Linux images.

5. I may have downloaded thousands of images and tested all of them.

Making an Archive was my vision when Linux was not popular.

6. My current target is to make Linux hit 10% of the PC market.

Never 100%. I do not care less for Apple, Microsoft or any other operating systems including BSD.

7. I am slowly shifting to Android Application.Currently installing Android Studio.

So my targets are not even 10.

SLAX Linux is not USB bootable

 Yes. SLAX Linux is not USB bootable.

It is based on Slakware and is a minimal distribution.

It can be mounted on the BOX virtual machine.

Easy OS Version 5 is Great

I downloaded easy OS 5 version and it is great. However, I was looking for VM-Ware but could not find any.

It configured my WiFi effortlessly and this is posted in a Live session.

I could not get Vivaldi from FlatPak in both with Debian and Ubuntu.

Vivaldi is 96% Free Software and 4% Proprietary but is a very good browser where it allows add blocking.

Thank YOU EasyOS.

This was in 2020

 I forgot to mention both EasyOS and FatPup do not support my new NUC IBM PC Box.

But both support my old IBM computer.

Thanks to Dialog, IBM NUC Box and Linux Community. In under 10 minutes I was running Puppy on my son's old computer.

It was only 5 minute downloading and writing an image on a 16 GB stick.

No image compression now and capacity was little over 800MB after installation.

It took just 4 minutes for writing a persistent image in my old  rotating disk.

Puppy Linux was my entry to Linux and I love Dogs and Puppy Linux.

Thanks guys in Australia for reviving Easy OS.

Bunsen Labs

This is to report that I made a wrong comment on a YouTube presentation by a woman who has no understanding of Linux, saying Bunsen Lab cannot configure WiFi.

I was wrong, I am live from Bunsen Lab on a USB and it effortlessly configured WiFi and I am posting this to prove it Live from a Bunsen Lab Distribution.

Long long time ago, I used Crunch bang Linux and its versatility is it minimalist but a good work horse, then.

Mind you Internet was horrible then in Ceylon.

I am posting this from Australia.

Just Like in Snal Linux it has all the keyboard or Super key commands on the right hand side of the desktop.

The browser is Firefox is smooth and fast is on the top right hand corner.

It is only 1.8GB. 

Software installer is synaptic package manager.

It has Dropbox, Dilo and Chromium available for install and I did not try them on a Live session.

Yes, I tried Dilo and Abiword and it installed both of them briskly.

I have no hesitation to recommend it, if one is looking for minimalist distribution as opposed to KDE/Plasma.

I do not use Plasma at all but Gnome is my basic.

Good work, guys and girls of Bunsen Lab

BIG Thank YOU.

 

CrunchBang was a Debian GNU/Linux based distribution offering a great blend of speed, style and substance. Using the nimble Openbox window manager, it was highly customisable and provided a modern, full-featured GNU/Linux system without sacrificing performance.

Development of CrunchBang has ended, but it inspired the creation of some excellent spin-off projects by community members.

    CrunchBang++
    Bunsen Labs

Snal Linux is Pretty Basic

 Snal Linux is Pretty Basic.

I am going to relearn all the keyboard short cuts on BOX Utility.

In fact, I am doing it now. 

There is a problem with mouse moving from my desktop and the Box Window and gave it up, thinking of doing it on a live session with al the RAM devoted to the Snal Distribution.

Its mascot is a snail but it is pretty fast.

I had given only 2GB RAM out of 8GB to the Box Utility. 

Real reason, I am posting this is to say something about the Super Key which came as Windows Key a long time ago and I HATED it and never used it.

Mind YOU I came from DOS Era.

My first computer was a DOS enabled long before Windows.

I new keyboard short cuts then.

Keyboard is the basic IO device which should not have proprietary tag attached.

It sets in bad precedence. 

Snal name the Windows Key as Super Key and it has many combination to make you mad (memory) but all the short cuts are listed on the right side of the desktop.

Problem is if one is left handed this arrangement makes him mad.

It gives the feel of DOS time.

Well Done Snar Linux, it is Arched based.

Garuda Linux

Garuda Linux

Garuda Linux has everything, the Good, Bad and the Ugly.

It is live but getting to Live Session was circuitous.

It spring into action to install instead of giving a preview at a live session. 

That is the ugly part.

Bad part is it cannot configure the WiFi.

Its Desktop is Ugly to say the least about it.

It will put off any newbie by default.

Application list is a total clutter.

It is arch based which is minimal and good.

I will not use it but Erase the USB, henceforth.

Linux Games Come of Age, Ragata and Nobara

When I started Linux my only complain was lack of Games.

I did come from the Windows background and still earlier DOS.

DOS games were my favourite.

Atari Game (not Hatari, the African Game Hunt) Box,               I bought is still in the attic.

Game Distributions in Linux both Ragata and Nobara are pretty good Linux distributions. 

One based on SuSe and the other on Fedora.

I have no games but I can report Nobara has both Proton and Lutrius in addition to Steam utility.

This is posted with Nobara live on a USB.

Edited today on Ubuntu.

BlueStar Linux of ARCH is beautiful

BlueStar Linux of ARCH is beautiful.

I ran BluStar Linux on Box Utility of Gnome and it is really beautiful. It ran everything except Firefox (heavy duty) including Gnu Image manipulation, VLC and Open Office (latest 7.6) effortlessly.

I have no hesitation of recommending it to a newbie.

There is a BIG Problem!

It cannot configure Wireless Internet.

So I am going to erase it and install something else.

May be Endeavour OS.

LibreOffice 7.6...is Superb

 LibreOffice 7.6...is Superb

Yes, LibreOffice latest version in Ubuntu 21.10 is superb.

It detects and open AbiWord in Abi Format File without cutting and pasting its content into a LibreOffice office file.

I have not checked its other fancy capabilities until I finish my books.